Taitai Summer Gathering

It's that time of the year again when the 2 remaining tai-tais in China come back to Singapore during their children's summer school holidays. As usual, those of us who are working will apply for leave, meet to da-bao food together and enjoy an afternoon of fun and laughter. This time round we gathered at ML's lovely place at Pine Grove. Unfortunately 3 of them were dearly missed!

The ladies never run out of things to talk about. This afternoon's hot topic was on encounters with so-called "dirty spirits". Not sure how the conversations went that direction but everyone sort of had a first- or second-hand experience to share. Here are some goose-bumps-raising ones:

• HK went to a chalet in Genting Highlands with some colleagues. In the middle of the night, two men who were sharing a room saw a lady floating above them and ran out of the room.


• ML said she began receiving strange phone calls in the middle of the night, every night, which disturbed her sleep. She later realised her family might have inadvertently invited some unclean spirit into the house when her hubby purchased some unknown statue in China.


• LH shared that one of her friends' family refuse to go to the ground floor of the house because they hear strange sounds coming from the kitchen at night, such as the washing machine working on its own. Apparently it's the spirit of the deceased ex-male owner of the house.

I thought the last one was pretty funny! Perhaps the husband felt bad about not helping his wife enough with housework during his living years. We joked that the family could prepare some dirty laundry and leave them in the washing machine before they go to sleep, and by the next morning the clothes would be ready for sunning.

I do believe that be it at a chalet, hotel (5-star or no), or anywhere, unclean spirits are everywhere. That's why before I enter into any hotel rooms, I always pray in the power of Jesus' name to cleanse every corner of the room of unclean spirits. Sometimes when I do that, I get goose bumps or chills down my spine, and could feel 'something' rushing out of the door. We can always call on Jesus' name to protect us from such disturbances.

Anyway, the tai-tais are planning for another dinner to meet up with the 3 ladies who could not make it today. I look forward to the dinner too, but am not sure if I would have delivered by then!

Will Chloe be Arriving Soon?

I learnt from a friend that our mutual friend, who was 3 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy had delivered! Although she delivered a little early, I suddenly realised that there's a likelihood that Chloe could arrive in 3 weeks time also! This sent me into a little panic as I quickly launched into the list of things to tend to immediately, without delay.

First I called for the delivery of the baby colt, which was supposed to come in the first week of July. Well, I wanted to have the baby colt set up and all the other stuff like wet wipes, muslin cloth, baby cream, booties etc. etc. put in place instead of leaving them still packed in shopping bags all over the room. Secondly, no delay too in buying a few gigantic stainless steel pots (that takes up so much of my kitchen space!) for boiling water to bathe with during the confinement period. We also began packing up our spare rooms to tidy up and make space for the confinement lady and domestic helper. And I have not even taken the milk bottle sterilizer out of the box to test if it works! Gosh, what a weekend!!!

I also wanted to clear my refrigerator of the baking ingredients so that I can have more space to store the 50 herbs that my confinement lady instructed me to buy. I made two batches of peach muffins - a first try with a recipe downloaded from the Internet recently. They are quite dense and aren't too sweet. Let's see who is in the office tomorrow to sample my fresh bake. : )

Peach muffins - probably my last cakes baked before I shift house.....

Gathering with Gal-frens

Aiyo..... this entry is so late, because I have been waiting for the longest time for my friend to download and send me the beautiful pictures! But it's better late than never.....

The gals came over for a gathering on 9 May 2008. I thought it was a "farewell" gathering for one of them who will be posted overseas very soon. Little did I realise they planned to celebrate my birthday for me as well, and oh! what a gorgeous cake they bought. I had been craving for canned-longans around that time, and I ate up almost half of the glossy-fruits towering on the cake that night. Ha ha!

Unlike the last time they came by, we did not drink and make merry till late into the night. Preggie me had to rest early so we called it a day by 11pm. This would be the last time we would be gathering at 'Sky Lounge @ Eden'!

Very Tired and Busy, but Happy.....

My weekends have been pretty crazy in the last few weeks. I guess too many things have come together at the same time – preparation for the new house, the new baby, the new domestic helper and confinement maid.

I have been quite blessed to have relatively easy first and second trimesters. Before this week, I was still looking and feeling reasonably good. But like clock-work, the common late pregnancy complaints start to set in one by one – from heartburn to hemorrhoids to H2O retention. Just last night, I noticed my right ankle swelling up like a pig trotter. It’s horrifying!

Alas I have no choice but to press on with busy schedules over the few remaining weekends (before my due-date). I can’t possibly wait till later to settle the renovation designs with our designer-cum-contractor. I foresee very soon I won’t have the strength or mood to shop around for the right-colored tiles, bathroom suites or kitchen sink. I also need to shop for beddings and clear up space for my domestic helper and confinement maid. Then there’s Chloe’s colt, pram, bath tub, milk bottles, sterilizer, muslin cloths, diapers, etc. etc. to get ready. Not forgetting church services, pre-natal classes and family dinners. No wonder I don’t feel rested at all on weekends!

But at the end of the day, these are happy problems. Despite the fact that I’m beginning to put on some weight (already +5kg from pre-pregnancy) and starting to waddle around like a penguin, it’s a beautiful feeling to have a little one growing inside. Hubby and I derive much joy from her constant kicking and seeing her grow quite rapidly in the last 2 weeks. Because of her, the new house, new domestic helper and confinement maid are necessary, and I wouldn’t and shouldn't complain.